Amin Abbas Dubai

The 40^th edition of GITEX, the region’s largest technology event was held from 6 – 10 Dec. at Dubai World Trade Center. This year’s event was the only tech and start-up show in the world to hold a live, in-person event during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gitex welcomed exhibitors from over 60 countries including Japan, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Italy, France, Egypt and India to feature their tech and business innovation solutions.

Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) organized the Japanese pavilion “J-Startup” at GITEX 2020, and ten Japanese tech companies participated.

Chiharu Yamamura, Director of Jetro Dubai said: “This is our 5^th participation in GITEX event and we have 10 companies participating this year. Unfortunately, only two companies came physically to the event while the rest of eight companies are participating online and we are here to provide booth assistance for those companies who couldn’t come and arrange online for them with the visitors through Zoom and it has been going well so far as we are trying hard to get business opportunities for those companies.”

Yamamura shared how: “We had concerns about participating this year’s edition of GITEX due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we were surprised by the good number of people who came to visit the event this year and having good conversations with Japanese companies and the organizers did such an amazing job in organizing the event.”

The ten Japanese companies who participated in GITEX are looking for business partners in the Middle East, particularly in Dubai and GITEX has opened the door for discussions with many attendees. JETRO are following up with them to support the companies who intend to make business here in the region. 

Also, it was the first time GITEX 2020 housed five major shows, including GITEX Tech Week, GITEX Future Stars, GISEC, Future Blockchain Summit and Marketing Mania simultaneously. Attendees got the chance to experience all five events with their GITEX 2020 pass.

The event applied the most rigorous health and safety standards as laid out by government authorities in the UAE to ensure the health and safety of everyone on its premises during the pandemic.

Ali Ibrahim, Social media manager at Robocom VR said: “We are Lebanese company based in Beirut  and we are pleased to be part of GITEX 2020 and give a unique Transformers Video game VR experience to the visitors of the event. The event was very successful for us so far as we are having long queue line people who wants to try our VR machines everyday and the feedback that we got from them were positive”.

“We have been taking very serious safety measures for COVID-19 pandemic at our booth in GITEX 2020 such providing gloves & face masks for all the people before trying our game, sanitizing our machines between every turn to provide the safest experience for the visitors our booth at the event,” he added.